


No More Crash Landings

by auselysium



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Canon Divergent, Fix It Fic, M/M, Season Finale
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-08
Updated: 2019-05-08
Packaged: 2020-02-28 13:09:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18757069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/auselysium/pseuds/auselysium
Summary: A little Canon Divergent/Fix it Ficlet for Alex Manes Appreciation Week.The scene I hope we would have gotten if it was looking like S2 wasn’t going to happen. Michael doesn't leave Alex to wait alone. The boys find the light. Imagine the camera panning out from the Airstream at the end…we would be have been happy. :)





	No More Crash Landings

Alex waited.

Of course, he did. He’s a man of his word. The realization hits Michael like another sucker punch.

The scrap yard gravel feels uneven under his feet and he steadies himself on the hood of his truck, his fingers landing healthy and healed on the hot metal. Tears burn against his tired lids.

“Your hand,” Alex breathes, a hitch to the words.

“Max,” Michael says, still not opening his eyes. “He can. He wanted to…I didn’t ask.”

Alex brushes over his skin of the back of his hand with the gentle innocence of miracles. He doesn’t know why Michael held onto those contorted scars for so long. What safeguards, now that bone and skin and sinew are made whole again, have faltered. Have been faltering, for hours now. Months, even. Ever since Alex’s return.

“Noah’s dead.”

Michael finally has the stamina to open his eyes, finding Alex’s look wild and petrified. He scans Michael’s neck for the remnants of blood that had been there before. Michael had claimed it wasn’t his. Had Alex seen right through that lie, too? He is a miserable liar, after all.

“He’s…He was. Like me. Like us.”

Like his mother. He hasn’t even had time to mourn any of it.

“I’m just so tired, Alex.”

Alex only nods, calm under the weight of even more impossible information. Disregarding his own tears in the face of Michael’s. He slips his hand around Michael’s shoulder. And even though Alex is the one with the bum leg, he supports Michael up the steps into his trailer.

He helps Michael take off his coat. His boots. He finds a clean washcloth and dampens it, leaving Michael in front of the mirror to wipe himself off. Hands him a shirt he deems clean after a quick sniff.

With Michael settled onto the edge of his bed, he nods as if satisfied that Michael will be ok for now. He’s halfway to the door before Michael realizes he’s leaving.

“You said you wanted to talk.”

“No. We don’t have to right now. You need to rest and…”

Michael shakes his head, trying to thread his way back through the nest of today’s chaotic memories. Alex had said he didn’t want to fight his father’s battles anymore. They’d almost kissed.

“I love you.”

They’ve said it in a million different ways, scattered that emotion over a decade and a handful of perfect encounters. Finally admitting it outloud is a moment of clarity amidst the chaos. Like the first moment he realized his powers. Like the first time they kissed.

“I probably always will.”

That worried cleft is back in between Alex’s brows. The ‘but’ anticipated before Michael even says it.

“You’re tangled up in all these terrible memories of my life. And right now, what I feel for you? It just hurts. ” His throat closes and he swallows against it. Wets his lips before he goes on. “Every time we come back to each other, it just feels like a crash landing.”

Alex moves slowly, adopting the same weary shape as Michael on the bed. Knees at 90 degree angles against the floor, elbows dropped to knees, hands clasped together.

“I don’t want this, _us_ , to be something that hurts you, Michael.”

His cheeks flush, an adrenaline skitter under this skin. Alex’s face is so wholesomely handsome. The red and the leather, a grownup throwback.

“But I also told you, I’m done walking away. I meant what I said yesterday, even if it was in a moment of crisis. So maybe…friends,” his face softens and turns his Michael’s way. “A lover, if you need one. Partners, when we get there. But, no sudden movements. No more crash landings. Maybe what we need is a smoother approach back to earth?”

“Maybe, yeah,” Michael exhaled.

Alex brushed the flop of curls that always falls over Michael’s eyes back towards his ear. It doesn’t hold, springing right back into place. They both laugh softly through their noses.

“Good thing I’m a trained pilot, then, huh?”

Exhaustion turns to relief. His entire body melts, seeking out the grounding force of Alex Manes next to him. Alex kisses his temple and encircles him with both arms. It feels normal. Happy, even.

“Tell me more about your mother,” Alex says, once he can.

The mid-morning sun breaks past the curtains over the window.  Michael’s chin trembles. “She was beautiful…” 


End file.
